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Methane breaks down quickly, yes, but it also has a much, much more potent greenhouse effect. Taking both factors into account, releasing 1 ton of methane is es
by brilee 7y ago
Methane breaks down quickly, yes, but it also has a much, much more potent greenhouse effect. Taking both factors into account, releasing 1 ton of methane is estimated to be about equivalent to releasing 25 tons of CO2.
- topmonk 7y agoYes, but is the amount of methane released anywhere near the same as CO2? Hint: methane is measured in parts per billion, whereas co2 is measured in parts per million.
- philipkglass 7y agoNormalized for atmospheric lifetime and radiative forcing, American methane emissions account for about 12% as much anthropogenic warming as carbon dioxide emissions: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases (Carbon dioxide 82%, methane 10%) Globally, as of 2012, methane contributes about 23% as much as CO2 to anthropogenic warming: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emis... (Carbon dioxide 35.47 billion tons CO2e, methane 8.01 billion tons CO2e). So methane is certainly a smaller contributor toward warming than CO2 but it's more significant than you have conveyed.